Introduction/Purpose

Our project focuses on the future of agriculture and how it can become sustainable. Our society is projected to have growing food demands, with decreasing available land space. Climate change is projected to destabilize regions, with more frequent storms coupled with increasing disruptive weather intensity. Currently, traditional agriculture makes up the bulk of food production, and is largely an unsustainable and one of the leading contributors to climate change. To meet the demands of a growing society, we must integrate modern technological solutions in an effort to increase efficiency and safeguard our food production from a growing list of externalities.

Why traditional agriculture might be viewed as unsustainable: the amount of water, land, and fertilizer use is too large, and the yields will not be able to feed a growing human population. As the human population rises, traditional agricultural methods will require more land to feed the growing population. In the face of climate change, the risk of crop failure rises.

Indoor, vertical farming addresses these major issues. Vertical farming requires far less land use; it dramatically expands usable surface area through the use of the vertical plane; currently an unused dimension in most agricultural production zones. Closed-loop hydroponic systems require a fraction of the water that traditional agriculture requires and less fertilizer. This both reduces water usage by agriculture and reduces pollution associated with agricultural chemicals, fertilizers, and soil erosion. The reduced need for fertilizer is also of importance as the earth’s finite phosphorous resource dwindles away.

Robotics decrease the need for humans to perform repetitive tasks, as well as reducing disease and insect transmission in closed/vertical facilities (Which is currently a major issue, due to the lack of predators in these environments).

We also address the concern of climate change and crop failure. Controlled environment facilities do not have the same worry of fluctuating weather patterns, floods, droughts, etc

World Population Statistics: 1950 to 2100

## 1850 to 1950
(2.54 - 1.28)/1.28 * 100

## [1] 98.4375

## 1950 to 2050
(9.7 - 2.54)/2.54 * 100

## [1] 281.8898

What Caused Population Increase?

Modern Industry

• Mechanized/Robotic machines automate to exact specifications
  
• Easily integrated with AI and Machine Learning algorithms
  
• Increased efficiency (No health problems, less mistakes, no turnover)
  
• Ability to keep working environment biologically sterile
  
• Continuous (near exponential) development and growth (Especially compared to efficiency of historical methods)

Climate/Traditional Agriculture Issues

Vertical Indoor Hydroponic

• Indoor facilities are shielded from all but the most severe environmental factors
  
• Controlled environment; automation ready (nutrient dispersal/monitoring)
  
• Year-round production
  
• Able to take great advantage of ‘green’ energy technologies, such as wind and solar
  
• Becoming more and more energy efficiency by the year (Quantum Boards/COB lighting)
  
• Vertical integration alleviates horizontal land pressure

Robotic and AI Implementation

• Robotics decrease the massive human labor cost of one of the most prolific industries on earth
  
• Robotics are able to collect more precise data for Machine Learning/AI implementation
  
• Robotics must be used with indoor facilities to prevent pest/contaminant explosions
  
• AI/Increased data collection allows statistical analysis and issue identification rapidly; accelerates development
  • Human-staffed indoor facilities currently suffer from lack of natural predators; i.e. aphids can devastate a site
• Auxiliary: Most agricultural jobs are manual labor intensive - low amount of education/technical training in an increasingly technically demanding world.
  • Freeing these individuals allows for increased educational development

Pitch

Mini Summary

We believe that the increased population and food demands facing our society cannot be solved by technologies or methodologies developed and implemented successfully for vastly different conditions. No historical agricultural system has, to our knowledge, ever faced such demands and stressors as we currently face both now and in the future.

To combat these new challenges, we must utilize modern technologies and underutilized spaces; we must use vertical space to solve our land issue. We must utilize hydroponic facilities capable of water and nutrient recycling to help alleviate the fresh water crisis. We must increase efficiency with modern robotic assistance in combination with environmentally controlled indoor facilities to curb the physical labor stress of agriculture, as well as solve the bacterial/fungal/pest issues which plague modern agriculture.

In our full presentation, we will highlight and showcase some of these methodologies, as well as compare them directly with both organic and conventional methods of traditional (outdoor) farming methods.